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Archive for Chinese

Specials at Sands

Sep05

Restaurant: Sands Chinese Restaurant 金沙中餐館

Location: 15706 Arrow Hwy, Irwindale, CA 91706.  (626) 338-6686

Date: December 30, 2023

Cuisine: Southern Chinese

Rating: Very good and lots of interesting dishes

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1A4A4439-Pano
Sands is a a newish Hong Kong / Cantonese place that Keong and Sklar really enjoy. Keong setup a very extensive custom banquet here on the second to last day of the year. Only problem is that it’s so far east — but at least there wasn’t much traffic.
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This is a smallish mom & pop place, but they do have “fancier” food available for advanced order. The owner was the chef at some famous restaurant in Macau.

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Double Boiled Winter Melon Soup. Interesting textures. A touch sweet and bland for me, but with some white pepper was quite pleasant. Had a lot of the tasteless but vaguely sweet melon. Some fish maw, mushrooms, and shrimp.
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Lobster Salad. I’ve had this at least 2 times before. It’s like ambroisa salad, the Chinese lobster edition. Not to my taste as it’s sweet and the mayo and sweet fruit overwealm what was a very nicely cooked lobster.
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Lotus Leaf Rice. Over-steamed, bland and heavy. This was my least favorite dish of the night and the most carbacious.
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Steamed Cod. Lovely delicate cod. Hard to pick up with chopsticks as it was so delicate, but great taste and texture.

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Sichuan Cold Chicken. Yarom ordered this because he didn’t want the rice. Turned out to be quite good. The sauce was full of “flavor” and delicious. Chicken was juicy.
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Mushrooms with Shrimp Paste and “Lobster Sauce.” A delicious silky bite. The broccoli, as we shall see, was a stable for the night.
1A4A4497
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Crispy Fried Chicken. Great crispy fried chicken as described. They also debuted what was to be one of many little figurines made out of pressed flour and/or sugar or something.
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Pipa Tofu. More broccoli and these “oyster-like” tofu fried balls. Delicious actually. Better than the real oysters (a few dishes later).
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Sweet and sour sauce for the fried stuff.

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Steamed Tofu with Minced Shrimp. Silky and delicious.
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Deep Fried Oysters. The real oysters which were a touch heavy and fried — but I never love fried oysters. Did have a cool dragon head.
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A5 Beef. Very soft.
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Braised Stuffed Duck. Interesting duck. Very rich and quite delicious. It was stuffed with a LOT of stuff, known as the 8 treasures. List comming up.
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The 8 treasures!
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Beef Cube with Sichuan Sause (spelling intentional). Felt a little pork-like and was in one of those Panda Express type sweet and sour sauses (hehe).
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Braised Pork Belly. Very decadent.
1A4A4546
Oatmeal Shrimp. Never had this before. Actually pretty good!
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Lettuce with Fermented Bean Curd. I prefer with cabbage, but this was pleasant too.
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Chicken Skin Spread with Shrimp Paste. Another crispy chicken, this time sort of a version of 100 flower chicken. Hot and delicious.
1A4A4559
Deep Fried Taro Tossed with Sugar. These actually weren’t bad for a weird Chinese dessert.
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And it included yet another cute figurine.
1A4A4566
Yar! Ghostly skeletal praline pirates are marauding — Pecan Pirate Praline Gelato — An eggy ultra-smooth Texas Pecan base layered with my creepy skull-shaped New Orleans style Vanilla Bourbon Pecan Pralines — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #vanilla #bourbon #pecan #praline #candy #halloween #spooky
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Overall, a great and very interesting meal. There were lots of new dishes here, which I love, and lots of great ones. Interesting Southern Chinese style, simutaneously fancy and home style. Lots of fry. Not every dish was sucessful. Despite my comments, they mostly worked. The Lotus Leaf Rice was the only true dud. I just have issues with the sweetness of some of the others. But I absolutely love trying new things and this was chock ful of them. The staff were incredibly nice and really cared. As of 12/30/23 they were still applying for their Liquor Liscense.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Tong Tak – Epic Cantonese
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  3. Rice Yummy
  4. Big at Bistro Na
  5. Jiang Nan Spring
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: BYOG, Chinese, Chinese cuisine, Gelato, hedonists, SGV

Newport goes Westside

Aug31

Restaurant: New Port Seafood

Location: 50 N la Cienaga Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA

Date: August 28, 2014

Cuisine: Cantonese / Southeast Asian

Rating: almost the SGV in Beverly Hills

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My Hedonist group has been out several times to the classic New Port Seafood in the SGV. Always a trek, but worth it. Well this hugely popular east side place has just opened a branch in Beverly Hills (actually, it’s on Restaurant Row in what I think of as West Hollywood).


It will be interesting to see how they do here in the land of overpriced theme restaurants. The menu has been trimmed down from the usual gigantic SGV scale.


The decor is certainly amped up from the SGV. Tonight, they aren’t really open yet but they agreed to let us in for a soft opening of sorts. We were the only real customers, with our giant party of 25! Plus all our wines.

I should note that with this giant (25 person?) group there is a really wide range of wine. I didn’t drink 2/3 of them and I’m not necessarily going to dig up reviews on all that stuff.

2004 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. IWC 94. Vivid yellow. High-pitched, mineral-accented aromas of pear, Meyer lemon, quince and jasmine, with smoke and toasted grain qualities adding bass notes. Spicy, penetrating and pure, boasting impressive vivacity to its fresh orchard and citrus fruit flavors. Gains weight and breadth with air while maintaining vivacity, picking up a gingery nuance that carries through a long, smoky finish. I’d bet on this taut, youthful Champagne rewarding many more years of patience.


The hardcore crew was in the lovely private room (which is actually open to the main dining room). My narrow 50mm lens couldn’t quite get it into frame.


From my cellar: 1994 Robert Ampeau & Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. 91 points. Nicely aged white Burgundy with notes of butterscotch and citrus. It started promisingly but faltered pretty quickly in the mouth, dissolving into a dry, pithy finish.


2002 Remoissenet Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne Diamond Jubilee. 89 points. A bit premoxed. Drinking ok now, but already too advanced.


Tofu and pig ear with five spices. A traditional Chinese thing. I wonder how the Beverly Hills crowd does with pig ear?


2012 Grgich Hills Fumé Blanc Dry Sauvignon Blanc.


2013 Kim Crawford Pinot Noir Marlborough.


2011 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay. IWC 90. the 40th chardonnay vintage at this historic Calistoga winery): Bright, pale lemon-yellow. Crisp aromas of apple, citrus peel and white peppery, along with a light metallic quality. The palate offers bracing lemon zest and grapefruit pith flavors and strong acidity yet comes across as silky and tactile at the same time. Cool and spicy, but with a surprisingly glyceral quality for the year. The youthfully edgy finish suggests that this wine will need serious patience.


Chicken satay. The owners are actually Cambodian and there is a lot of Southeast Asian influence on the menu.


2010 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Narvaux. Burghound 90-92. A well-layered and distinctly cool nose of citrus rind, acacia blossom and spiced pear aromas gives way to intensely mineral-inflected, rich and vibrant medium-bodied flavors that culminate in an impressively long, complex and bone dry finish. This is a classic Narvaux of refinement and a taut muscularity.


2011 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Narvaux. Lower acidity than the 2010. Still good though.


Fish bladder soup. I don’t know what they really call it, but the spongy texture thing in here (besides the egg whites) is the part of the fish that keeps it floating (so my Chinese friend told me).


This is one of those pleasant mild Chinese soups. A little vinegar (no, that isn’t blood) spices it up.


1995 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rotenberg Vendange Tardive. 94 points. Sweet, syrupy, thick sticky wine, tasting of apricots and honey. Very good. One of my favorite wines with the food.


1999 Weingut Robert Weil Riesling Kabinett. 91 points. Very nice. Possibly a little more sweet than expected for a kabinett.


Shrimp satay. Quite tasty.


From my cellar: 1989 Domaine Daniel Rion et Fils Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts. 91 points. Youthful appearance with an initial nose of sweet red fruits. Balanced and smooth on the palate. The remaing fruit is fresh and elegant, but a little thin on the finish. Nice, mature VR not over the hill.


2005 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes. Burghound 86-89. A moderately toasty dark berry fruit nose reveals hints of Gevrey earth and leads to rich, full and attractively sweet flavors that deliver good punch if not much complexity on the tangy and dusty finish. This was clearly at an awkward stage in its evolution so my rating may be conservative.


Newport special lobster. This is the signature dish and we had about 8-10 of these (not kidding). A huge lobster with a really tasty black pepper and green onion sauce.


1996 Château Smith Haut Lafitte. IWC 89. Medium red. Warm aromas of redcurrant, hot gravel and tobacco. Supple and graceful in the mouth; not especially sweet but boasts rather penetrating flavor and firm framing acidity. Not quite as suave as this estate ’95; finishes with slightly tough tannins.


2004 Shafer Relentless. Parker 91. Celebrating 30 years of consistent quality and both critical and commercial success, this family run winery remains one of the most admirable operations in California. The Shafers have had tremendous success with their Relentless, which was first released in 1999. A blend of 80% Syrah and 20% Petite Sirah that spends 32 months in 100% new French oak, it is a remarkably consistent offering that rarely displays much oak. The Syrah is from Napa’s cool-climate Oak Knoll sector. One of the world’s most prodigious Cabernet Sauvignons is Shafer’s 2,000-case cuvee called Hillside Select. Always 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged in 100% new French oak for a whopping 32 months, it boasts a gorgeous track record dating back to the early nineties, and just about every recent vintage has flirted with perfection.


1996 Vineyard 29 Cabernet Sauvignon Grace Family Vineyard. IWC 87-89. Good deep red-ruby. Pretty aromas of black raspberry, flowers and spices. Juicy and a bit tight in the mouth, with pungent cedary oak and lively acids. Finishes with very good length and a note of coffee. This should put on more weight during its last months in barrel.


French style beef. Really this is a Vietnamese dish. Succulent filet in a black pepper sauce. Quite excellent.


2007 Newton The Puzzle. IWC 90+. Good bright ruby. Aromas of plum, dried cherry, leather, dark chocolate, coffee and mocha. Sweet and broad, showing a strong oakiness to the flavors of cassis, leather, licorice, espresso and German chocolate cake. Offers a fine-grained texture but slightly edgy acidity and strong dusty, building tannins will require several years to harmonize. Today the $25 Claret is a lot more fun to drink. (A second sample of equal quality showed stronger oak spices but a somewhat mellower finish.)


2006 Hundred Acre Vineyard Shiraz Ancient Way. 95 points. Great bottle of wine! go balance. had everything you can expect from a great australien shiraz!

agavin: I never know which vineyard these are with their new world “stylish” labels that are missing crucial information. I forgot to photo the back. They need some French wine law to require they actually stick the vineyard on the front.


Fried rice. Never a bad thing.

2000 Brothers in Arms Shiraz. 91 points.


2009 Bibi Graetz di Testamatta Toscana IGT. Young Sangiovese.


Manilla clams. With a kind of flavorful garlic sauce.


2009 Domaine Tollot-Beaut Chorey-Côte-de-Beaune.


Fried squid. Crispy, but a hair plain.


1999 Chapoutier Cote Rotie la Mordoree. Parker 95. Chapoutier’s La Mordoree cuvee is produced from 75-80-year old Syrah vines planted in both the Cote Blonde and Cote Brune, aged in 100% new oak casks, and bottled with neither fining nor filtration. The 1999 Cote Rotie La Mordoree is the finest he has produced since the 1991 (two bottles drunk over the last six months confirm this fabulous wine’s potential as it is just now beginning to emerge from a cloak of tannin). The 1999 has closed down since its pre-bottling tasting. The color is an inky purple, and the wine is dense and powerful, with notes of smoky blackberries, creosote, and espresso. Concentrated flavors reveal high levels of tannin (surprising in view of last year’s report), and a rich, long, 45-second finish. This impressive 1999 will take longer to reach its plateau of drinkability than I thought last year. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2023.


Walnut shrimp. The typical mayo sweet shrimp. I’ve had better, I’ve had worse of this dish.


1999 Torbreck The Factor. Parker 93. Deep garnet in color, the 1999 The Factor shows an earthy, meaty and gamey nose that is a little musky. Full-bodied and rich, it has medium levels of velvety tannins that hold up the concentrated and long, spicy finish. It is mature now and ready to drink.


Sweet and sour fish. It was nice and crispy, but the sauce was too sweet and mild.


2009 Margerum Syrah Black Oak Vineyard. 92 points.


Mustard greens and preserved meat. I think some kind of pork sausage which was great.


1970 Château Filhot Comtesse Durieu de Lacarelle. agavin 86 points. This was pleasant, but far over the hill. Sherry like notes.


Mango sticky rice. Thai, but still good.


This was the “kid’s table” where the dozen or so people who bring the “lesser wines” (or are very late) are banished too. We had about 15 at the other table.

Overall, New Port Seafood did a great job, particularly considering they weren’t even open yet. Several of the dishes were pretty much exactly the same as the original branch (lobster, beef, maybe the walnut shrimp). A few others felt a hair more mild and Westernized. I haven’t studied the menu to see how the prices compare. Our total tonight was reasonable and we pigged out. Seriously pigged out. They don’t yet have the giant crab, but promise they will. Still, it’s a LOT closer. I hope they do great!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Yarom w/ the owner, Wendy Lam

Yarom with the manager

Related posts:

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By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese, Chinese cuisine, hedonists, Lobster, New Port Seafood, Wine

Hedonists Hunan Style

Aug05

Restaurant: Hunan Style Restaurant

Location: 529 E Valley Blvd. Ste 108A. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 288-0758

Date: August 4, 2013

Cuisine: Hunan Chinese

Rating: Great Authentic Hunan

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The San Gabriel Valley is packed with hundreds of examples of regional Chinese restaurants. Would that I could try them all.


Hunan Style offers up the hearty spicy cuisine of the Chinese heartland in the typical unassuming format of this vast array of strip malls.


This is clearly a place that does NOT cater to the tourist crowd as it doesn’t even bother to advertise its name in English, or the menu for the most part!


But fortunately, one of our vast (18ish) party speaks not only fluent Chinese, but the Hunan dialect.


It’s traditional in China to offer up cold appetizers before the meal proper and Hunan Style has a big case of them. Check out these poultry parts!


And mood interesting delicacies.


2010 Cantina Terlan Pinot Bianco Terlano Riserva Vorberg.

As usual, we bring wines (and to this kind of place, stems). There is no corkage!


We start with a bean curd with peppers (everything in Hunan has peppers). This was very pleasant, with only a mild heat.


2001 Cottonwood Canyon Chardonnay. In great shape, this older (for Ca Chard) wine tasted a tad like a Montrachet.


Same with this seaweed.


2011 Domaine Daniel Dampt et Fils Chablis 1er Cru Les Lys. Burghound 92. This offers even more classic Chablis character with its expressive and airy nose of oyster shell, sea breeze and mineral reduction. There is fine detail to the solidly precise, intense and racy flavors that exude a fine minerality on the tension-filled, saline and balanced finish. This understated effort is textbook Les Lys.


These duck necks were cured, tasty, and spicier. Like Chinese slim jims!


From my cellar, 2009 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese. 94 points. Enticing aromas of apricot pit, guava and mint leaf. Creamy, almost sweet tropical fruits tantalize the palate. Spicy, refined and mineral-driven on the finish. A beautiful wine for a summer afternoon on the patio.


And this jellyfish and “beef” (think pastrami) was awesome.


1983 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese. 94-96 points. This is just spectacular right now. There’s a prominent forestal herbal/pine needle element here that brings Grünhaus to mind, along with layers of mature Mosel fruit and florality, smokiness and mineral elements that all come together seamlessly on the nose and palate. So complex, fragrant, impeccably balanced with a gentle creaminess and faint sweetness on the palate matched by bright acids, and just a fantastic bottle of Riesling.

Sadly, our bottle was corked.


I was not so enamored of the trotters, although many people liked them. The whole idea kind of bothers me.


This chicken soup was surprisingly good. It’s really just a classic Chinese… chicken soup, with a salty rich broth made by cooking down the chicken parts like forever. It’s mild.


2011 Grasshopper Rock Pinot Noir Earnscleugh Vineyard. Not bad for fake (not Burgundy) Pinot Noir. Too young of course.


This chicken hot pot was not. But it was very tasty. Similar in style to the Wuhan hot pot place we tried, this included ALL the chicken in true Chinese style. I mean, all the chicken: bones, beak, feet, etc.


Spicy shredded potato. Tasty, with a vinegar tang. Like a twisted hunan potato salad!


2010 Hirsch Vineyards Pinot Noir San Andreas Fault. 91 points. Very austere upon opening and needed about 30 minutes to relax. Nose is tart cherry, strawberry, reses, violets with some vanilla. Palate is tight, austere, med to light palate weight, earthy and vegetal. Definitely some whole cluster fermentation here (was described as cinnamon-hots candy). This is a cool and lean wine with good alcohol balance, good acidity although I thought was a little green, lead pencil and tasted somewhat under ripe for my taste.


Corn porridge. This is supposed to “cool” you off. We all hated it, as it’s so bland as to be gross.


2011 Matanzas Creek Winery Sauvignon Blanc. 87 points. It offers a nice combination of crisp citrus fruit, kiwi and field grasses, all adorned by a dollop of oak. Medium-bodied, it carries its freshness and well-integrated alcohol (13.5%) throughout a solid middle palate and lengthy finish. While not necessarily a favorite of those who prefer light-styled, un-oaked Sauvignon or those who favor heavily-oaked white wine offerings.


This is the hunan classic, Yu Tou? Anyway, it’s giant fish head in chilis. The sauce is awesome (spicy of course). There was really nice soft tofu in there too. He fish itself is very good, but there is relatively little meat an a lot of bones and cartilage. That’s the way the Chinese like it (more flavor).


1978 Clos du Bois Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. Not in bad shape for a wine that was never intended to make this kind of age. Bitter and thick on the finish. The problem is, that with such spicy food all one could taste is the bitterness. I personally think sweet wines like the Rieslings are the only way to go with spicy.


Spicy green beans with ground pork? Tasty for sure.


This cabbage was arguably the best cabbage I’ve every had. There had to be some kind of meat fat in the sauce.


2010 Anakena Carménère. 83 points. Colour: cloudy purple, almost magenta at edges. Nose, strangely enough, bolgnase sauce and damp cardboard. Palate well oversweet but sharp at the back of the throat. in-descriptively fruity. weird, even for a really cheap wine.


Cumin lamb. Very nice with understated cumin and plenty of chilies.


2010 Malibu Rocky Oaks Syrah. What little I could taste through the heat wasn’t bad, for a young Cal Syrah (I prefer Hermitage).


Cold marinated duck. Smoky and really tasty.


This dish, apparently, is NEVER done anywhere else in america. It’s some kind of incredibly bitter vegetable with a sweet “bacon.” The mean was awesome, just awesome, like blueberry candied bacon. The vegetable was, as advertised, extremely bitter. Together they made an interesting combo.


1999 Château Guiraud. IWC 90. Pale yellow-gold. Lower-toned aromas of orange zest, herbs, spices, earth and vanillin oak. Textured, rich and sweetly oaky, with notes of vanilla and creme caramel Showing plenty of personality today. Ripe and rich for young Guiraud. Big but essentially gentle, with an impressive, slow-building finish.

Went great with the spice. Along with the Rieslings, was most of what I drank during the later 3/4 of the meal.


I think this was beef, as usual, with chilies.


Duff Gordon Inida Sherry.


And for dessert, sweet sticky pumpkin cakes. These had a gooey texture like mochi and a mild pumpkin flavor. There were incredibly hot (temperature) too. Very nice.

Overall, one must compare this to Hunan Chili King across the street. It’s hard to tell which is better, but they’re different. Hunan Style isn’t nearly as hot, but perhaps the dishes are a little more varied. At Chili King everything is DROWNED in chilies, but here there are a lot of distinct flavors. I think we ordered well (thanks to our Hunan friend) this time, so that is a big factor too. Both are pretty great.

After, we went down the street and availed ourself of that awesome San Gabriel tradition, the $15 (an hour) foot massage and then over to a nearby “tea house” for some awesome second dessert.

In this case, this amazing mango shaved ice which mixes ice cream, shave ice, mango, and sweetened condensed milk.


There was also an almond jelly (not pictured) and this passionfruit “slush’ with lychee jelly! Good stuff.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or click here for more crazy Hedonist adventures.


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By: agavin
Comments (7)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese, hedonists, Hunan, Hunan Style, Hunan Style Restaurant, san Gabriel valley

Din Tai Fung – The Return!

Jun18

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By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese, Dim sum, dimsum, Din Tai Fung

Peking Duck at A-1 Chinese BBQ

Jun02

Restaurant: A-1 Chinese BBQ

Location: 2014 Pacific Coast Hwy. Lomita, CA 90717. (310) 325-6709

Date: May 19, 2012

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Great Duck

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I recently joined a meetup.com foodie group and I noticed in the feed that people were talking about this place for great Peking Duck. I’ve long been a fan of the crispy foul, to the tune of eating it three nights in a row in Beijing, and it is scare represented on the Westside, so I thought a pilgrimage was in order.

If you decide to go you must call ahead to reserve/prep a duck. It takes too long for them to do to order.

This establishment is not about looks. It makes Din Tai Fung look like Cesar’s Palace.


Although, I do have to say the inside is one step up form Totoraku, and that is a high end joint!


Another great thing is: no liquor license, which means no corkage. Bring your own cork screw. This is a reliable (although not awesome) negotiant 1re cru. We had to drink it out of plastic “pizza hut style” glasses, so that didn’t help either.

NOTE: big menu, so keep scrolling for the food!

The menu is grungy and enormous.


We started with these “prawns with spicy salt, headless.” This is generally called “salt and pepper shrimp” and this particular version was one of the best I’ve had. I particularly appreciated the lack of head.


Then out rolled our feathered friend. He was carved back in the kitchen.


And served with the usual Hoisin sauce and the often seen in China but not as often here doughy buns instead of pancakes.


You put some sauce, some scallions, and some duck on the bun and enjoy. This was definitely some of the best duck I’ve had in California. The skin was perfectly crispy, and there was some, but not too much fat.


After this we switched it up to this awesome Rosso. “The 2009 Rosso di Montalcino is totally beautiful and elegant in its expressive bouquet, silky fruit and understated, harmonious personality. This is a wonderful, impeccable Rosso from Le Potazzine. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2017.”


This is “Chow Ma Mein” (I think). A spicy soup with noodles, shrimp, beef, chicken and various vegetables. It was good.


“Orange peel chicken.” Fairly typical of the type, but not bad.


“Dry braised string beans.” I like this dish when I usually have it, but this wasn’t the greatest version. It was too oily and lacking in garlicky punch.


“Sweet and sour pork.” The pork was a little tough, but flavorful. The sauce a bit goopy. Just so-so.


The check was awesome. $20 a person all in with tip.

Overall, the duck was fantastic, the shrimp and soup were very good, and the other dishes a bit mediocre. It was a very nice meal, and with a little more trial and error ordering probably could be totally first rate. I’m curious if any of you readers know any other places with great Peking Duck in LA. I’d love to find one that was 40 minutes from my house!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: A-1 Chinese BBQ, Asia, Barbecue, bbq, Beijing, China, Chinese, Chinese cuisine, Hoisin sauce, Lomita, Peking Duck

Din Tai Fung Dumpling House

Dec21

Restaurant: Din Tai Fung

Location: 1108 S. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia,California 91007. (626)574-7068

Date: December 8, 2011 & February 28, 2012

Cuisine: Chinese Dumpling House

Rating: Amazing Taipei spinoff

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I love dimsum so much I was willing to drive 45 minutes out into the wilds of Arcadia to try this place. And it was well worth the journey. The “juicy pork dumplings” alone were worth the price of admission.


Classical Arcadia was a place of legendary beauty, filled with bucolic green hills, lazy shepherds, and nubile nymphs. Arcadia Ca features strip malls.


The chefs hard at work in their little glass tank.


Din Tai Fung is so popular we had to wait 30 minutes on a random thursday at 1pm. But they are nothing if not organized. The staff all wear secret service ear pieces and our order was taken before we even sat.


The huge menu. And it has pictures!


Some stuff appears to be take out friendly.


The setup of chopsticks, tea cup, and ginger.


Marinated cucumber in a sort of garlic ponzu type sauce. Nice and crunchy, but I was saving room.


“Hot and Sour Soup (pork).” A well implemented version of the classic.


“Seaweed and Bean Curd in Vinegar dressing.” Interesting “salad”.


Chicken and veggie bits over noodles. Looks bland enough but it tasted great.


“Juicy pork dumplings.” These are sometimes called Shanghai style “soup” dumplings. I’ve had lots of them but these were easily the best ever. These succulent little mouthfuls were superbly balanced.


“Shrimp and Pork Wonton with Spicy Sauce.” This was absolutely delicious. The dumpling could have been almost anything as the sauce made it more about texture than flavor, but they would have been good plain too.


“Pork sticky rice.”


This sticky log of rice contained bonus roast pork. Yum yum. You’ll notice the DTF food is heavy on both the carbs AND the pork.


“Noodle with mince pork sauce.” This was yummy too, although I have had better of this dish — in Xian China.


“Noode with spicy sauce.” This was actually tastier than the pork ones as the sauce had this nice spicy vinegar tang.


“Braised beef soup.” You can’t see them, but the soup is filled with more of the spaghetti-like noodles. The beef tasted like short rib.


“Vegetarian dumplings.” These were some of the better veggie dumplings I’ve had. Still, they don’t hold a candle to the meaty ones.


“Shrimp Fried Noodle.”


“Pork and Shrimp Shu-mai.” Not only did these look great, but they tasted fantastic. These were my second favorite after the straight pork ones.


“Shanghai rice cake with chicken.” This tasted fine (like soy sauce, in a good way). The rice cake has a weird chewy texture, not unlike jellyfish. It was actually kind of fun.


“Pork buns.”


Unlike the typical BBQ pork buns, these just had the slightly spiced (buy yummy) pork balls inside, not the sweet red BBQ pork. Still good.


“Juicy Pork & Crab dumplings.” Like the pork ones, but with a slightly weird crab aftertaste. We all preferred the plain pork ones, but I still happily kicked back about 5 of these.


“Sautéed mustard cabbage with garlic.” Fine for what it was. Boring!


“Sauteed Bok Choy with Garlic.” You’d swear it was the same as the mustard greens, and you’d be wrong!


“Pork Chop Fried Rice.” Pretty much exactly what you’d expect.


Yum yum, drown that baby!


“Fish dumplings.” I haven’t had a lot of fish dumplings, but these were superb! Almost as good as the pork. Well not quite, but they were really good.


Now the dessert buns. First the “black sesame.”


This were really good, with a sweet nutty taste. The bun itself is identical to the pork bun.


Then two other experimental types: “sweet taro” and “red bean.” All were pleasant, but the taro was like a bun stuffed with whipped sweet mash potato and the red bean — well like red bean.


Some kind of specialty “sweet rice” with bits of fruit and red bean paste.


I actually enjoyed this dessert. It’s sickly sweet with a peculiar Chinese flavor and very sticky.

Overall, Din Tai Fun was awesome. I’m so hungry just writing up this post and I want to go back right away. I don’t want to drive the better part of an hour just this second, but I want the “juicy pork dumplings.” It’s also a good deal. Four of us completely polished off the above. And yeah we pigged out. And it cost like $65!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Mark’s Duck House
  2. Food as Art: Ping Pong
  3. More Mark’s Duck House
  4. Christmas is for Dim Sum
  5. More Modern Dim Sum
By: agavin
Comments (7)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: China, Chinese, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, dimsum, Din Tai Fung, Din Tai Fung Dumpling House, dumpling, Dumpling House, Hot and Sour Soup, Noodle, pork, Restaraunt, Restaurant Review, Shanghai, Taipei

Christmas is for Dim Sum

Dec26

Restaurant: The Palace

Location: 11701 Wilshire Blvd, Second Floor, Los Angeles, CA.  310-979-3377.

Date: Dec 25, 2010

Cuisine: Chinese Dimsum

 

As we don’t celebrate Christmas, and very few restaurants are open, Chinese is a long standing tradition. These days we go to Dim Sum. For those of you who have lived in a culinary hole for the last couple decades, Dim Sum is a Cantonese brunch tradition in which tasty little delectables are served on carts. Dim Sum is hard to find on the westside, and this particular place recently changed owners and names. It’s actually slightly better in its current incarnation, although they may offer less items at current. This is a pretty traditional or classic implementation of the cuisine. Last month I reviewed Ping Pong in Washington DC which offered a more expensive but updated variant.

This, for example, is the “fried stuff” cart.

And this young lady is organizing some of the “steamed stuff” carts.

There are condiments too. Vinegar, Chinese mustard, hot sauce, soy sauce, and tea — which isn’t really a condiment but is certainly present at every Chinese meal I’ve ever had.

We don’t go in so much for the fried, but these are shrimp and scallop rolls with sesame seeds.

Shrimp and scallop dumplings (pounded rice batter) with cilantro.

Vegetarian dumplings shaped like Hamantash.

One of my favorites — and readily available. Pork shumai.

Another classic, Har Gow. These are shrimp pockets. They are very light. Dim Sum is also often VERY hot in a physical sense. Seared oral tissue is a significant hazard.

Shrimp, scallop, and some other green.

Shrimp and scallop. You may notice a trend.

Curried shrimp balls. This is shrimp chopped up, reconstituted, and covered in curry sauce.

Tofo stuffed with vegetables. Surprisingly tasty.

Another classic, sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf.

Inside is a blob of rice filled with various bits of meat, vegetable, and egg.

These are pork “crepes” (ripe noodles). As I’ve been eating Dim Sum for over 30 years, as kids we used to call this “slime” (we meant it as a compliment). It has a jiggly consistency. I still love it. They come in various “flavors,” this one being “pork slime.” “Shrimp slime” is also ver popular. The sauce is a somewhat sweet soy.

Steamed pork buns. These fluffy rice flower buns are stuffed with a red tinted BBQ pork. Essentially they are BBQ pork sandwiches.

For desert pineapple bun. These buttery pastries are stuffed with a very yolky egg custard.

Same place, new sign. This is solid Dim Sum. I’ve certainly had better, but in LA you have to travel pretty far east for amazing Dim Sum. The current chef also makes some really really good “soup dumplings,” but they ran out on Christmas eve and none were available. We were crushed. Four of us also pigged out (or maybe shrimped out) for $67.

Related posts:

  1. Food as Art: Ping Pong
  2. Red Medicine is the Cure
  3. Melisse – How much would a Woodcock…
  4. Swish Swish – Mizu 212
  5. Foreign Flavors: Panjshir
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese, Chinese cuisine, Christmas, Dessert, Dim sum, dumplings, Food, Hamantash, Har Gow, Restaurant, scallop, shrimp, side dishes, Tofo, vegetarian
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